Damon Faults Drop, but Marlins’ Pitching Is to Blame, Too

Nick Swisher drove in the only run for the Yankees during their 2-1 loss to the Florida Marlins.Credit
Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Johnny Damon saw the group of reporters talking to A. J. Burnett on Saturday and staked out a spot across the visitors’ clubhouse. He waited patiently for the questions, and he was ready with the answers. Burnett did not deserve to lose, but because of Damon, he had.

At least, that was how Damon saw it. Burnett, who was outpitched by the Florida Marlins’ Josh Johnson in a 2-1 Yankees loss, blamed himself for Dan Uggla’s second-inning homer on a misplaced fastball. Damon focused on his sixth-inning error that allowed the other run.

“It’s totally unacceptable,” Damon said. “It’s amazing. There’ve been a lot of plays that I’ve missed this year. I’m definitely a much better defender than that. Lately, I’ve been brutal.”

With one out and one on in the sixth and the Marlins leading, 1-0, Jorge Cantu lined a ball to left. It was sinking toward center, but Damon said he tracked it well. He did not lose it in the lights. His eyelids were not fluttering, as they were when he dropped a fly in Boston this month.

He just missed it, the ball glancing off his glove, not even reaching the pocket as he tumbled to the grass. Hanley Ramirez scored from first with the Marlins’ second run, the insurance they needed after the Yankees scored late.

Photo

Josh Johnson, above, who replaced A. J. Burnett in the Marlins rotation in 2005, allowed one run in seven innings.Credit
Hans Deryk/Reuters

“To miss by an inch or two, that happens,” Damon said. “But to miss it by a foot, that’s awful.”

After flogging himself, Damon heaped praise on Johnson, a 25-year-old right-hander who has a 7-1 record with a 2.66 earned run average. Damon placed Johnson among the five best pitchers in baseball, and possibly the best when he is on.

That was the case Saturday, when Johnson held the Yankees to three hits and a run in seven innings. Johnson said he paid attention Friday when his teammate, Sean West, tried to attack the strike zone with fastballs and failed. Johnson can throw 97 miles per hour, but he kept the Yankees guessing with sliders and changeups.

Johnson pitched more confidently with his fastball as the game went on, using it for inning-ending strikeouts in the sixth and seventh. There was fist-pumping by the emotional Burnett and the normally stoic Johnson.

“It was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen here,” Johnson said, referring to the 46,427 fans. “It was definitely the most emotion I’ve ever shown.”

Essentially, Johnson has replaced Burnett in Florida. Johnson had his first start in the majors on Sept. 30, 2005, after Burnett was pulled from the rotation for criticizing the organization. Burnett was on his way out, anyway, bound for riches in Toronto and, last winter, in New York.

Burnett has been shaky at times this season, and opponents have hit about 100 points higher against him with Jorge Posada as his catcher than with other catchers. But Posada had a terrific game Saturday, throwing out two runners at second and steering Burnett into the seventh inning.

They talked before the game about mixing patterns the way Burnett did last Sunday with a rookie catcher, Francisco Cervelli. It worked, and Burnett said he did not shake off any signs.

“I think he did a good job of paying attention to my last start,” Burnett said. “We’ve done good together. If we work like we worked tonight and get the curveball established — whether you bounce the first eight or nine, you stay with it — it just keeps everybody off balance.”

Burnett was so overpowering that he struck out the side on nine pitches in the third inning, becoming the first Yankee to do so since Ron Guidry in 1984. He threw three fastballs and six curves in that inning, and struck out the side again in the fourth.

“We were in sync the whole game,” Posada said. “We had a great plan and we executed it well.”

But Johnson was better, and the Yankees wasted chances to tie the score against the bullpen after he left. Derek Jeter failed to get a bunt down in the eighth, then grounded into a double play. Robinson Cano bounced into another to end the game.

INSIDE PITCH

Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup for the second day after playing the 38 consecutive games since coming back from hip surgery. He drew a walk as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. “We talked to him yesterday: ‘Yeah, you want to play, but you’ve got to tell us when you’re fatigued,’ ” Manager Joe Girardi said.

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